Chapter 2 Summary

Captain Walter Fountain is an Adjunct with the 53rd Ohio Regiment. He is just finishing with guard duty or a duty that men of his rank seldom have to perform and that he's drawn because his commander is angry with him. He begins writing a letter to a woman he addresses as "Martha dearest." Walter tells about a dog that's been named Bango. The dog is a Redbone and "joined" the army as they marched through the countryside. General Ulysses Grant is in the area and had stopped practice maneuvers just a few days earlier to look at Bango. Walter says that Grant has always had a soft spot for animals and relates what other facts he knows about Grant. Walter says that Grant is only eight years older than he and, being from the same town, Walter knew Grant by sight prior...